The Sunset and Thoreau

I'm no photographer, but I'm always seized with the urge to capture the splendor of the nightly show when granted a particularly breathtaking one. Our final night in Arizona, we were given a lovely sunset that made the sky appear to be lit with fire.

Being out West, this triggered the arrival of a Henry David Thoreau quote to the forefront of my mind:

"Every sunset which I witness inspires me with the desire to go to a West as distant and as fair as that into which the sun goes down. He appears to migrate westward daily, and tempt us to follow him. He is the Great Western Pioneer whom the nations follow. We dream all night of those mountain-ridges in the horizon, though they may be of vapor only, which were last gilded by his rays. The island of Atlantis, and the islands and gardens of the Hesperides, a sort of terrestrial paradise, appear to have been the Great West of the ancients, enveloped in mystery and poetry. Who has not seen in imagination, when looking into the sunset sky...?"

This lovely quote is from his essay Walking, which was published posthumously in the Atlantic. If you want to read the beautiful essay in its entierty, you can do so here .

It will probably inspire you to take a walk, and you might just catch a lovely sunset if you do.